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And on that score, Sunderland will have been watching some of the early transfer machinations with interest.

For instance there has been talk this summer of Real Madrid rekindling their interest in David de Gea this summer, with Manchester United apparently valuing the Spaniard at anything from £60m to £80m depending on which source you believe.

De Gea is an excellent shot-stopper and seasoned international but he is also prone to mistakes.

Is he twice as good a goalkeeper as Pickford? I don’t think so.

But unless and until de Gea is sold, his valuation is as ephemeral as the figures that have been talked about for Pickford.

A better benchmark is to be found in the Blue half of Manchester, where City have splashed out £35m on Benfica’s Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, making him the second most expensive goalkeeper of all-time behind Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon.

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Ederson and Pickford are both 23 years of age, and have been involved with their national teams although have yet to win a senior cap.

But while Ederson has made a total of 107 career league appearances for four clubs in the top three tiers of Portuguese football, Pickford can lay claim to be the more experienced man having made 147 such outings for seven clubs ranging from Premier League to Conference levels.

Not only that, as a homegrown player, Pickford would also attract the also the so-called ‘English premium’.

With those factors in mind, Sunderland could justifiably point to Ederson’s fee and start the bidding from there.

And if de Gea’s on-off move to Madrid does materialise, and if the fee is anything like the figures being mentioned, Pickford’s market value will only increase still further.